eat * drink * play

Legal Seafood | Foreigners beware, passports required!

It would probably not be a very fulfilling trip if there wasn’t at least have one seafood feast in Boston, a seaside city by the Atlantic Ocean. With its many locations, Legal Seafood became our first pick due to its proximity from our hotel. We stayed at Westin Boston Waterfront;so although there are many Legal Seafood restaurant locations, the one by the harborside was the best choice for us. To walk from the hotel to the restaurant took us approximately 10 – 15 minutes.

Legal Harborside has 3 floors. Floor 1 features mainly seafood; Floor 2 has other specialties like sushi; and Floor 3 is where the rooftop bar is located. We chose to sit at Level 1, adjacent to an outdoor patio, with direct ocean-view. Everything went smoothly until we tried to order a bottle of wine. The waitress wanted to check our IDs so we gave her our Ontario driver’s license. Then she explained that she couldn’t accept that as a legal proof-of-age document, because Massachusetts law dictates the that the only acceptable IDs are: State driver’s license, State liquor identification card, a passport or a military identification card. Being Canadians, we were requested to present our passports (photocopies were equally unacceptable). After complaining to the both the waitress and the manager for 20 minutes but to no avail, we gave up and walked back to our hotel to pick up the passports. If it wasn’t for the fact that everywhere else seemed fully-booked, we would likely have walked out.

The waitress was very apologetic, and we understood that it was not her decision. After this little unpleasant incident, the rest of the evening, to our surprise, was actually quite enjoyable. As such, I would still highly recommend this restaurant, but please just ensure that you bring along proper identification.

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As a result of the inconvenience caused, the restaurant did not charge us for the small shellfish platter ($24.95) we ordered. The Alaskan king crab legs were full of crab meat, the raw oysters and clams were plump and juicy.

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After the platter, we ordered 1 more dozen each of the cherry stone and baby neck clams ($1.75 ea). The cherry stone clams that I had in the past, although meaty and flavorful, tend to be a bit chewy; but the ones served here quite tender.

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A mug of creamy lobster bisque ($9.95), with hints of brandy. Good for sharing as it was quite filling.

Sausage & Shrimp Orecchiette w/ roasted cauliflower, broccoli rabe, grated cheese ($17.95) ~ We were yearning for some carbs and hot food to end our meal. However, this was the worst dish of the night. It was salty and oily, presented as a hodgepodge of flavors that did not blend well together. Not recommended.

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Our second bottle of wine for the night. After the additional effort to get the passports, how could we simply stop at one?

Visitors from foreign countries (and even out-of-state visitors from the USA!) should be aware that Massachusetts has particularly strict liquor laws when it comes to accepting IDs for proof of age. The official law is outlined here: http://www.mass.gov/abcc/pdf/idlawchange_with_id_pix.pdf

As you can see, even Driver’s Licenses from other states in the USA are technically not proof of age. While some establishments choose to accept them anyway, they are technically not supposed to according to state law. Visitors from other states are often out of luck because they normally don’t bring passports, or even own a passport.

Also, there is very active enforcement of the liquor laws. The licensing board will send people with fake IDs to ensure that establishments are complying. If they fail, they will have their liquor license suspended or revoked. It happens pretty frequently in the area.

Legal Seafood is only following the state law, and it was extraordinarily nice of them to grant a free seafood platter. They shouldn’t be to blame for MA’s super strict laws. I’m sure it’s a particular headache for a place like Legal Harborside that caters to a lot of tourists and would be severely hurt by a license suspension.

I do feel like if every bar and restaurant in Massachusetts actually followed the law, the outrage would be so massive that they’d talk about relaxing the rules a little for visitors.